Trying to simultaneously eat a late Sunday breakfast and bite his tongue, the low-key Otten maintained silence when the crowd around him grew louder in the sports-themed establishment not far from Chargers Park.

A rookie tight end on the Chargers’ practice squad, Otten watched the last road game on the big screens at Champion Field. He never changed his expression amid the groans and howls of protest from blue-clad viewers, ever-harsher with each of three plays that failed to gain the single yard needed for what should’ve been the winning touchdown against the Washington Redskins.

“I hear what they’re saying,” Otten would allow later, “but it’s not like I’m going to have a reaction to it.”

The overtime loss left most of the bar’s patrons exasperated and incredulous, throwing up their arms and invectives at the play selection on those three snaps. Otten remained the calmest in the room, belying the fact that he had more of a stake in the Chargers than anyone present. Even if he had only been in town for three weeks.

“I try to be as anonymous as I can,” said Otten, whose 6-foot-6, 241-pound physique suggested to people that he had to be a football player for somebody. Not only is he naturally disinclined to go around wearing anything with his team’s logo or telling folks he’s in the NFL, but because of his particular station with the Chargers, Otten said his relative obscurity makes for “less explaining.”

Ah, and there it is – the conundrum of the NFL practice-squad player.

“When I was on the practice squad in Carolina (last year), I definitely didn’t tell people I was a Panther,” said Chargers linebacker Thomas Keiser. “Even if somebody asked if I was a Panther, I’d say “No, not really.’

“If I said yes, then I’d have to explain what it meant to be on the practice squad, why I’m not on the field or in uniform. So I just avoided the subject.”

Keiser is one of three active Chargers players who’ve been elevated this season from the practice squad, which basically is where every NFL team keeps players in reserve for either development or emergencies. Just over the past week, offensive lineman Nick Becton and Kenny Wiggins have been returned to the practice squad from active duty, clearing waivers in the process.

By no mere happenstance do the Chargers maintain a practice squad with eight players who man different positions. The latest addition is defensive tackle Damik Scafe, who effectively bounced defensive end Brandon Moore from the practice squad on Thursday.

Already on it were Otten, a San Jose State graduate who was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars at the start of the regular season; cornerback Marcus Cromartie, linebacker Terrell Manning, wide receiver Tobais Palmer and running back Kerwynn Williams.

They are not on the 53-man roster. They do not play on Sundays, do not even dress for home games, and normally do not travel with the team for road games. Yet they are Chargers, technically, San Diego property.